Grasp the
opportunity to spurn
this world and follow the Lord. Don't doubt for an
instant.
Don't
stay gazing at the road stretching behind you nor, rapt in
fantasy,
call
up ghosts of a future that is not and, surely, never will be.

Let go. Venture
forth along
the
paths to Eternity lying before you now. They are not only long
but are
also,
in this very moment, wide open before you.

Perhaps you were
thinking that
you
could achieve a better life by moving about or escaping
time.
None
of that. Here you will find a little path that will take you
through
both
time and space. You will pass through them to the other side.
Then
further.

Don't let your
past
disturb
you.
Don't fret about tomorrow. You are simply here and now with the
Lord.
He
it is who calls you.

And you need know
nothing
else.
Don't get lost by taking a shortcut, nor be deflected into your
own
labyrinth.
Don't justify yourself, seeking reasons to escape from the path
to the
Lord. Do not be dazzled by illusions of a world that is
perishing.

Here we do not
intend to step
off
the cliff of death. Here we pray to our Lord for salvation. . .
. We
may
not presume to teach without learning how to fling open the
doors to
the
Saviour.

Open
these pages and find that
there
is something between them: the blessing of an invitation to
ascend much
higher. They are only a starting point.

1. When beginning
the day, arm
yourself,
Reader, with the Sign of the Cross and consecrate it, all of it,
in a
brief
act to the Lord.

2. Explicitly
renounce, with a
very
short prayer, any vanity or distraction during the day. Make it
your
purpose,
sincerely, not to be separated from the Lord. Remember St John
of the
Cross's
teaching, that only God is worthy of our thoughtfulness.

3. Ask, finally,
with prayer
and
invocation, for the grace of contemplation and perseverance.

4. Know that the
devil will
tempt
you with many distractions or worries under the guise of good
reason.
Reject
these deceits with vigour and don't live as if turned inside out
but be
ready and on guard. Ask the Lord for the gift of discernment and
seek
peace.
Let your principle ascesis be silence.

5. Not taking on
too
much will
achieve
the best results. May you overcome depression and achieve
quietness,
listening
to the inner silence. The Lord desires neither your busyness nor
your
things,
but all you are. Waste no time.

6. The world,
which
touches
you
on pilgrimage, resembles chaos. Most people in cities live in
disorder
and disharmony. Don't be afraid, nor let yourself be caught up
in any
snare.
Above all, pay no heed to what is ephemeral.

7. The left hand
need not know
what
the right is doing. Let the day elapse in forgetfulness of
oneself.

8. Remember that
greatness
always
turns out uncomfortably. With the help of God you will overcome
any
obstacle.
The Word of God, in the hardship and incomprehension of this
world, in
its humiliation and obedience, doesn't lose greatness but rather
is
exalted.

9. Don't rush
about.
Stop and
be
still. Don't take one thing after another impetuously. Have
courage to
let go of what is driving you. Don't run behind anything. Turn
around
to
close doors carefully when passing through them and, as
Carthusians
learn
in their Novitiate, don't slam them, but gently turn the
doorknob. Step
by step you will discover silence.

10. Interrupt
your
movements
frequently.
Breathe deeply and invoke the Lord before and after each step.
Be
quiet.
Don't hurry either in speaking or responding.

11. Don't hurry
to
do this or
that.
In advance of any work or obligation, says a proverb, be
distrustful of
your own urgency.

12. Be firm in
your
convictions,
but be always willing to embrace the truth.

13. Work in
silence,
without
saying
what you do. Don't look for recognition or applause. Accept what
Providence
itself affords you in relation to your actions.

14. Know, in all
that you
undertake,
that your true country is Heaven and that now you find yourself
in the
mystery of exile. But don't forget that you will find Heaven is
already
in your soul. Your spirit itself anticipates eternity.

15. Don't settle
down in nor
get
tied to a rigid time table. Stay within a harmonious order that
you
can,
easily, change. Also look for beauty in the passing of time.

16. Try to
integrate
surprise
, that is: the unexpected. Don't vanish before it does. The
contemporary
life abounds in what is not expected. On occasions you are tried
by the
devil's traps in order that you may lose balance along the road.
Don't
pay attention nor become distressed at all that occurs. Continue
as if
nothing had occurred, living in the silence of your own
interior.
Cultivate
peace.

17. Learn how to
live in a few
minutes
or, perhaps, in a few hours, what others live in the length of
all
their
time. Thus with solitude, retirement and withdrawal . .
. be a monk
one day at a time. Take advantage of the moments and the dawns.
Discover
in the hours and in landscapes, in music and in all
manifestations of
beauty,
the profundity of your true interior solitude.

18. It has been
said
that the
true
person is of the true day: of the eternal day. You are
capable
of
living a lifetime in only one day. Maybe because all your days'
journeys
are forever. Turn yourself then, reader and pilgrim, toward the
last
day.
Each instant will deliver you Eternity.

19. Learn how to
prolong the
privileged
moments when time is traversed vertically. It is so with the
Mass as in
all celebrations of the Liturgy in which one has participated.
And yet
there are still distances in time and space. One yourself within
to the
life unseen which, however, requires your prayer and your vigil.

20. Likewise in
the
instances
of
silence and withdrawal. Especially may you discover the
religious
mystery
of the night and make of those hours your own desert.

21. Keep in mind
that to keep
vigil in the night can be better than to hide yourself in
the
depths
of the desert. Solitude - as André Louf has said - is
a
portion
of the world that serves the hermit by placing him in the
universe
. The portion that now belongs to you is time. Watch and
pray,
whenever
possible, and extend your vigil into every hour.

22. Keep in mind
what Saint
Isaac
the Syrian taught: if a monk, for reasons of health, is
unable to
fast,
his spirit can, solely through vigils, gain purity of heart
and learn
how
to know in fullness the power of the Holy Spirit. Because only
the
person
who perseveres in vigils can understand the glory and the
force hidden
in the monastic life.

23.
Persist in vigilance by
means
of brief prayers. Practice spiritual reading and, where
possible, pray
daily all the hours of the Divine Office.

The reader needs
to
remember
his
position in relation to the world, at the same time that he has
left
all
for God. The exact formulation is as follows: one has turned
from
oneself
and heard the call of the Lord who is one's life. Rather
than any
later
decision, one has prostrated oneself in adoration. With this is
recognized
the primacy of contemplation.

Now, with abandonment,
be
a
pilgrim and observe:

24. Not to
settle down
in
time or space. To give up with determination any form of power,
even when it appears convenient or has the pretext of
contributing to
the
apostolate
. To be robbed of any means and to be presented in the Name and
Word of
God. Not to appeal to any entangling alliance nor be
served by
one.

25. Not to
inhabit any
transitory
space spiritually. Christians inhabit the world but
they are
not
of the world. Christians live passingly in corruptible
habitations,
while
they await the incorruption of heaven (Ep. Diogn. VI. 3
and 8). They
inhabit
their own countries as strangers. . . . All foreign territory
is
to be for them a homeland and all homelands foreign (Ibid.
V.5). To be,
therefore, a pilgrim in the desert of this world.

26. To abandon
everything in
the
Lord. To abandon everything is a consequence of metanoia.
What
characterizes
the interior desert is total abandonment in the Lord. Christian
freedom
from
suffering - Hans Urs von Balthazar has said - is
the
opposite of a technique made to protect oneself from
suffering; it is a
pure abandonment to eternal love, beyond both pleasure and
pain. To
put aside anxieties and restlessness. Péguy said there is no
bigger
sin than restlessness, unless it be laziness.

27. Renunciation
of
any power
in this world acts to arm oneself against one's own weariness.
The same
word 'kopos' used by St John (John 4.38) and by St Paul (1
Corinthians
3.8) to designate the weariness of the apostolate is employed by
the
Apostolic
Fathers to express a monk's labour.

28. To let go of
any
compromise
implicit in the power of this world, certainly, and
prepare
yourself
for contemplation and the work of God alone.

29. The pilgrim
has
nothing to
fear
from the effort but to place confidence in the grace of the Lord
with
humility
and patience. Have present the following text of Diadocus: Impassivity
does
not
consist in not being attacked by demons, since then one would
have to be out of this world, as the Apostle says (1 Cor.
5.10), but
in
remaining unassailable when they attack us' (XCVIII.160).

30. Practice
internal silence
according
to the following apothegm: Abbot Isaac was seated one day
next to
Abbot
Poimen when he heard the crowing of a cock. So he said, 'Can
you hear
that,
Abbot?' The other replied, 'Isaac, why do you force me to
speak? You
and
those who resemble you listen to those sounds, but the vigiler
doesn't
worry about them.' (Poimen 107, Sentence 245).

31. To convert
yourself into a
disciple
who knows how to listen and discern. On many occasions sounds
manifest
silence. Indeed, the important thing is not what arrives but how
we
receive
it.

32. To remain
weak
and
vulnerable,
without strength, without compromising alliances,
without
treaties
or defences. Instead of spiritualities, to give way to
the
Spirit.

33.
Have your heart fixed on
God
and when you endure adversity or suffer some loss, or whatever
it may
be,
don't feel sorry for yourself nor reflect on it. Don't keep it
in your
memory nor dwell on it. Pass above the miseries of this world,
respecting
and accepting the level of each thing.

34. Withdrawal
is
essential
to this Rule. One understands by withdrawal the internal
unification
of the person in the Presence of God.

35. Still, should
one be
unable,
for a valid reason, to observe one or another of the articles of
the
Rule,
this third part will suffice to fulfill it.

36. To live in
the
Presence of
God
at all times and in all places and to subject everything to
that.

37. These
articles
do not
refer,
of course, to as much as concerns a Christian's condition as
such. They
presuppose a call to sanctity and to union with God. On the
other hand,
they point to the customary withdrawal of those who
perceive a
special
vocation to contemplation and to intimacy with the Lord.

38. Contemplation
consists
in attending to and adhering to the Presence of
God in
the
depth, root, and centre of our being. Keeping in mind that this
is a
grace,
live it and pray for it constantly. Remember that the
contemplative
doesn't
know more or less than another, but rather - as a Carthusian
said - is
capable of ecstasy where others pass by with indifference.

39. Contemplation
is
not a
pilgrimage
to knowledge but a call to an experience that transcends every
road,
every
plan.

41. If, sometime,
you find
yourself
in an adverse environment and should discover that the nearest
things
are
the most distant, transform everything into a school for charity
and
learn
to transcend, from top to bottom, the impositions of any place.

43. Silence
and
withdrawal
. God alone suffices. In a pure heart there are no more
dissonances nor
distances from God. Be open to the Mystery and be found in
conformity
with
the Father's Will. Authentic silence is the same as a pure
heart, like
and oned with the Heart of God. You will be able, after all, to
live in
a complete silence when you rest yourself without difficulty,
like a
child,
in the Lord Himself.

44. Silence
consists, above
all,
in being quiet so as to be always ready to hear something
greater.
Leave
your analyses and the avalanche of your deductions. Allow
silence to be
manifested within your interior self. It is possible to be very
determined
in all types of activities and at the same time to enjoy the
silence
that
is the heritage of the soul and an expression of God.

45. Commit
neither
violence
nor
abuse no matter what happens. Respect things as they are and
don't rush
to respond or to intervene in what may be. Look on things with
benevolence.
Everything is in your favour.

46. Liberate
yourself from
everything
that doesn't concern you. Don't depend on people or on
situations.
Silence
the voices that take analysis to excess. Look for your refuge
and your
help only in God. You will never be defrauded.

47. Pureness
of
heart.
Oned
in the Lord. You go to God by God. God is the same as your life.
Just
as
invoking the Name of Jesus recalls him constantly, the Presence
of the
Lord Himself is in your interior unity and intimacy in Him.

48. Meet the mystery
of
the
desert
in your own interior and then eventually in what surrounds it.

49. Every desolation
or
trial
will be able to drive you on, if He wants it so, to the Mystery
of
Christ.

50. It is
characteristic of
the
solitary hermit to be with the Lord in his Agony. Offer and
consecrate
the hours and the suffering, being conscious of their
fruitfulness.

In a sense, the
presence of
this
Rule
for Hermits, demonstrates the fruitfulness of being a
hermit in the
world. Padre Fray Alberto Justo, O.P., in Argentina, found the
Juliansite
on the Web, sent his Regla para Eremitas to us, James
Hannay in
England and America then translating it, Bob King finding out
how to do
upside down Spanish questions marks in HTML for us, Julia
Holloway in
Italy
next placing it on the Web. Now we just need an Italian
translator! In
the process we came to realize, as words in its text were coming
to the
fore that are also present in Don Divo Barsotti, C.F.D.'s
vocabulary,
that
Padre Justo had stayed at San Sergio ten years ago! The world is
a
global
hermitage!